weekend watchlist: a sci-fi mood piece of eeriness, ookiness, and dread
Plus a snarky heist, a two-century-old energy crisis, and more. (First published August 27th, 2022, on Substack and Patreon.)
1950s
Mrs Harris Goes to Paris movie review: a fashion for kindness
This 60-year-old story of pursuing a dream with resolute kindness could not feel more fresh in its knowing class clash. Lesley Manville is an absolute treasure, her command of comedic pathos supreme.
Charlatan movie review: more vegetative than herbal
An intriguing story with engaging performances about a compelling real-life character, but oddly inert, and can’t quite make all its many aspects gel into a wholly satisfying or wholly coherent story.
The Vast of Night movie review: and vast of perspective
Striking sci-fi mood piece, all eeriness and ookiness, wonder and dread. Explicitly Twilight Zone–esque, summoning a midcentury-America innocence in order to shatter its narrowness (and our own).
My Darling Vivian documentary review: from ardent lover to cold hard Cash (SXSW 2020)
Nascent celebrity culture and the myth of the artist’s muse are skewered by the tale of Johnny Cash’s first wife, Vivian Liberto, told by her daughters and a trove of vintage photos and love letters.
movies by or about women opening US/Can Dec 20
Francesca Hayward costars in Cats; more… [This post is for Patreon patrons only for the first month.]
movies by or about women opening UK/Ire Jul 19
Annabel Jankel directs Tell It to the Bees, starring Holliday Grainger and Anna Paquin; more… [This post is for Patreon patrons only for the first month.]
Armstrong documentary review: the man we put on the Moon
Meet the “nerdy engineer” who dreamed of a life in aviation… and landed a tin can on the Moon. A deeply moving portrait of the modest man who seems to have been destined for his historic voyage.
Rocketman movie review: what makes a rock star, and what unmakes him
Joyful and rowdy, self-deprecating and vulnerable, absolutely electrifying as it deconstructs the sex-drugs-and-rock’n’-roll story. Taron Egerton is chills-inducingly good. Sheer cinematic magic.
movies by or about women opening US/Can May 03
Sex therapist Ruth Westheimer is featured in documentary Ask Dr. Ruth; more… [This post is for Patreon patrons only for the first month.]
